A rally for rights and roses

The International Sex Workers Millennium Mela held in Kolkata in March provided a forum for these women to voice their concerns and demand social recognition and legal sanction for their profession. RATNA KAPUR writes on their need for securing human rights to fight abuse and exploitation.

"ONLY rights can stop the wrongs" was the message of the first International Sex Workers Millennium mela held in Kolkata in March. At the opening ceremony, March 3 was declared as International Sex Workers Rights Day. The mela was attended by sex workers as well as individuals and groups supporting them from India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia. It was organised by the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a Calcutta based group whose membership consists of over 50,000 sex workers. It focussed on the strategies to be developed for securing rights for sex workers, in order to fight abuse and exploitation, as well as demand education for their children, the recognition of their families as legitimate and safe and healthy working conditions for themselves. They discussed strategies for removing the stigma from their work as well as providing a platform for addressing sex per se as a healthy human desire, not just as an issue to be addressed exclusively through the lens of violence, abuse, exploitation and harassment. Their strategy was summed up in a slogan which read, "We want bread. We also want roses."

At the session on the issue of whether sex work is immoral, the sex workers argued that the question of morality only obscured the real issues. Women, especially working class women, have limited economic opportunities and make the best choices that are available to them. Second, even if there is work that people considered as undignified, say latrine cleaning, there has never been a move to abolish it. The response has been to provide or lobby for safety wear and minimum wages and improve the working conditions of these workers, rather than to eliminate the work and the worker. Third, the debate on morality or immorality did nothing to protect sex workers from the violence or exploitation they may experience.

There was a debate on decriminalisation. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of clarity on this issue, which has frequently been equated with a demand for legislation. Sex workers did not ask for legalisation of their work, as the opponents of the sex workers rights movement have continuously tried to assert. They only wanted decriminalisation of their work. Legalisation does not help sex workers as it involves mandatory health checkups, zoning (restricting sex work to specific zones in the city) and licensing. Setting up a licensing regime would merely produce yet another structural hurdle, as the issuing of licenses would invariably involve the payment of a fee or bribe. It would not stop exploitation, but merely shift the location of exploitation.

Decriminalisation involves the removal of all aspects of sex work from the purview of the criminal law and a repeal of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956, which has been proven to harm more women than it helps. One reason for this demand is that it is impossible to secure a conviction of the brothel keepers, pimps and others without the testimony of the sex worker. And there has yet to be case where a sex worker has been willing to testify against those who provide her with employment and look after her needs when the State refuses to do so, or is simply interested in her as a criminal or as a victim in need of (moral) rehabilitation.

The sex worker's demand for decriminalisation is also coupled with a demand for human rights. These would include the right to retain and raise their children, to be recognised as a legitimate family unit, to be treated equally with all other women, and to be able to have an opportunity to be considered for scholarships and jobs, free of social stigma. Sex workers are the only community who are denied the right to parent their children because of the nature of the work they do. Once again, some feminists and health groups, such as the Voluntary Health Association of India, New Delhi, and Sanlaap, a Calcutta based group, have argued that sex workers would gladly leave their work if they had the chance.

Sex workers are also fighting for women's rights - that is for the right to equality, including the repeal of any section or legislation that makes a woman's right contingent on her sexual conduct. These would include laws that condition eligibility for maintenance on the basis of a women's chastity, or the rule of evidence which permits the defence to introduce evidence about a rape victim's sexual past to be introduced in court in order to discredit her testimony.

It was the first time transgendered persons spoke at such a forum. They provided moving accounts about the humiliation and abuse they are subjected to throughout their lives, simply for being different. Joya from Durjoy Bandan, in Bangladesh, explained how she was unable to complete her college education because of the stigma and discrimination she experienced. Others spoke of their rejection by families and friends. They were not eligible for jobs, simply because of their appearance, regardless of their skills and qualifications. Many were, therefore, forced to go into sex work to earn a living and because they were denined any other options. A similar session was also held for homosexuals and bi-sexuals, thus reflecting the inclusive politics of sex workers as well as an important statement about the need to forge alliances across different sexual groups and sexual identities.

Despite the high energy, articulation and political consciousness of the sex workers and other speakers, it is very disconcerting that there was a significant move to ban this mela. Rammi Chhabra, of the Independent commission on Health, Delhi, Meera Siva from the Voluntary Health Association of India, and Indrani Sinha, convenor of Sanlapp, an anti-sex workers rights group, led the effort to ban the mela. They met with Viren Shah, the Governor of Calcutta, the Chief Secretary, Manish Gupta, and other politicians and newspaper reporters, and appealed to them to condemn the holding of the mela and promote legislation for the abolition of sex work. The permission to hold the conference was withdrawn a day before the mela was to be held. Fortunately, through the energy, determination and organisation of the sex workers, who met with the concerned authorities, the cancellation order was revoked. It is unfortunate that these feminists sought to undermine the mela through an appeal to undemocratic means. Abolition, incarceration, censorship and bans are the tools of authoritarianism.

The issue of trafficking was also addressed. Participants questioned the sudden focus on the issue of trafficking and the law that was being enacted in many countries ostensibly to curb the problem. However, it is clear from the recent legislation enacted in the U.S., the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act, 2000, is designed to curb migration of a certain class of people, namely "nannies, maids, dancers, factory workers, restaurant workers, sales clerks (and) models," rather than to stop the abuse, and violence that takes place in the course of trafficking. It is unfortunate that anti-sex work groups have supported this legislation without concern for the fact that it targets migration and migrants from the South to the North, and is not directed at the problems of abuse. Should countries fail to take effective measures to curb the problem of trafficking then the Act entitles the U.S. government to withdraw non- humanitarian aid to that country. This decision rests with a task force constituted for the purpose of evaluation a country's performance in combating trafficking, which is led by the director of USAID as well as the director of the CIA.

The only way in which the harms and abuses in sex work, the problems of trafficking and of HIV can be addressed is through the active participation and leadership by sex workers. To support the rights of women in the sex industry is to support the rights of all women. Once sex workers are treated with respect and equality, are given rights to housing, health care and safe working conditions, no other woman will be entitled to anything less. The sex workers mela marked an important moment for all progressive movements - the human rights movement, the workers movement and the feminist movement - providing them with an exciting new direction in which to take these struggles. As one T-shirt slogan read, "Roadside women - Show us the way!"

The writer is an advocate and Director, Centre for Feminist Legal Research, New Delhi.

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